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Hammy Hamster, Toronto’s most famous rodent export

Hammy, G.P. and their fuzzy friends have entertained kids (and adults) around the world for six decades.

By Ed ConroySpecial to the Star

Sun., April 3, 2016

For most Toronto TV fans of a certain age and affinity, early mornings in the 1980s are forever associated with the placid adventures of Hammy Hamster and his cadre of diminutive rodent friends on the riverbank. Conceived of in Toronto in the late 1950s, then callously rejected by his native country thanks to an oversight by the CBC, Hammy’s popularity has endured for more than six decades and continues to fascinate new and old viewers alike.

ORIGINS

Expat Dave Ellison and his Canadian friend Paul Sutherland, both employed by the CBC as editors, devised the delightfully simple concept for Hammy after working on a disastrous TV adaptation of Aesop’s Fables for a French producer who had used real, uncontrollable animals like pigs and horses. Ellison and Sutherland figured smaller animals would be more manageable, so after purchasing a charismatic Hamster at Eaton’s department store, went about building a miniature Riverbank set in a rented Etobicoke garage. After a short pilot was shot, featuring Sutherland as the narrator and voice of Hammy, they pitched it to the CBC, which promptly dismissed it as something children would have no interest in.

TALES FROM THE RIVERBANK (1959)

Undeterred, Ellison and Sutherland then secured a meeting with the BBC, which wasted no time in acquiring the series and bankrolling an additional 52 episodes with one caveat: Sutherland’s Canadian voice-over had to go, replaced by popular U.K children’s entertainer Johnny Morris. These black and white episodes of Tales from the Riverbank took almost two years to complete, but were a massive global success and helped launch a raft of Hammy merchandise and books. They eventually ended up airing in Canada on CTV after the series won the top Children’s Entertainment prize at the Canadian Film Awards in 1963.

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HAMMY HAMSTER’S ADVENTURES ON THE RIVERBANK (1972)

This publicity photo of Hammy Hamster was inadvertently used by a Massachusetts TV station in a segment about a missing girl. (handout)

In 1972, an additional 26 episodes were produced in colour, now titled Hammy Hamster’s Adventures on the Riverbank. These were filmed on the Isle of Wight in the U.K., however, Canadian distributor Astral inserted footage of iconic Canadian wilderness, and reinstated Sutherland as the narrator and voice artist. These episodes were far more ambitious than Tales, featuring Hammy and his friends G.P. (who sounded like W.C. Fields), Matty the Mouse, Wise-Old-Frog, Turtle and the omnipresent Owl, all exploring the Riverbank by jeep, airplane, sailboat, motorboat, hovercraft, hot-air balloon or diving bell.

EARLY MORNING CHILL

This incarnation of Hammy ran uninterrupted for years on Global TV in the early weekday-morning slot (usually 7 a.m.), allowing most kids to watch it while getting ready for school alongside other pervasive early-morning local kids shows like The Mighty Hercules, Rocket Robin Hood and The Hilarious House of Frightenstein. Much like these series, Hammy attained cult status with many older viewers, and Global reported they often received requests for a late-night slot so college-aged viewers could engage with it as well. The gentle guitar intro (Mozart’s Andante in C major) alongside Sutherland’s soothing narration made Hammy the perfect come-down, and cast a warm glow of tranquility upon anyone who stumbled across it while channel surfing. “But that’s another story. . .”

ONCE UPON A HAMSTER (1995)

In the mid-1990s, Hammy was rebooted as a co-production between Canada’s YTV and the UK’s Channel 4. Now titled Once Upon a Hamster, this series retained the main characters but added Sutherland as a human narrator who now appeared on screen, and hired a group of performers to give each animal a unique voice. This version was shot on location in Uxbridge, Ont., making it the first version of Hammy to actually film the animals outdoors. In total, 65 episodes of this version were created, and proved immensely popular when aired late at night in the U.S on the Animal Planet cable channel, proving once and for all older viewers loved Hammy too.

HAMMY HERITAGE

Hammy’s most recent TV appearance in 2009 was due to an unfortunate snafu at a local Massachusetts TV station when a promotional image of Hammy from Once Upon a Hamster was flashed on screen as a possible person of interest in the still unsolved disappearance of 16-year-old Molly Bish. While Paul Sutherland died in 2004, and Dave Ellison in 2015, Ellison’s website furthertalesoftheriverbank.com indicates he was in discussion with broadcasters for a new version before his death. Regardless if any new episodes are ever created, Hammy’s place in the pantheon of Canadian pop culture is secure, and his name will no doubt be inextricably linked to hamsters until the end of time.

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